Video: New Mexico Trying to Unload Supercomputer

The state of New Mexico is on the verge of taking back the $11 million Encanto supercomputer from the nonprofit group set up to operate it.

State Information Technology Secretary Darryl Ackley said in a June 20 letter to Applications Center CEO Tom Bowles that the center owes nearly $1.25 million in past-due bills to Intel Corp. in Rio Rancho, where the supercomputer is housed, and to a company that sold the computer to New Mexico and that provided maintenance and operation services until last fall.

According to the report, Intel plans to demolish the building where Encanto is housed, meaning the computer will have to be relocated by Sept. 30. Read the Full Story.

Comments

Unfortunate situation with Encanto. In the KRQE News 13 video, the proposed option was to “sell it off in pieces”. What does that mean, to “sell off in pieces” in this context? Is Encanto modular, so that it could be carved up, physically, to different owners, yet remain operable at a lower performance level? That would be amazing!

The other interpretation I thought of was time-sharing, similar to PDP/11 or VAX time-sharing in the past. Implementing would be different though, as the time-sharing customers didn’t own the computer (I don’t think). Would this be like a time-sharing arrangement for property (aircraft, real-estate), where each participant had partial ownership that included right to use AND responsibility for paying for upkeep? Thank you for considering my question!

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